Prolonged heat, many lakes and dams dry up

According to information from the Nghe An Irrigation Department, water levels in dams managed by businesses and localities in the province are falling at an alarming rate due to prolonged heat, while rains to replenish water have not appeared much.

Many summer-autumn rice areas lack irrigation water.

Specifically, for 102 dams managed by irrigation enterprises, currently only 5 are full of water including Ru Gang Lake, Kem Ai Lake, Tong Mo Lake, Pieng Panh Lake and Khe Ha Lake, while in the same period in 2022, there were 11 full lakes. For lakes with a capacity of over 70% of the design capacity, in 2022 there were 57 lakes, but currently only 25 lakes have reached this water level, a decrease of more than half the number.

In particular, if in 2022, the whole province had only 8 dams managed by enterprises with a capacity of less than 50% of the design capacity, up to now there have been 40 dams with this extremely low capacity, a 5-fold increase over the same period.

Ban Ve Hydroelectric Reservoir is near dead water level.

It is forecasted that in the coming time, if the hot weather continues without additional rain, the capacity of the dams will decrease sharply, affecting the water supply for production and daily life.

Among the lakes managed by irrigation enterprises, Khe Ngon Lake (managed by Tay Nam Irrigation One Member Co., Ltd.) is currently damaged and cannot store water, seriously affecting production.

Renovating Lo Than Dam in Nghia Dan District.

In addition to 102 dams managed by enterprises, Nghe An province also has 959 dams managed by localities. As of June 20, 2023, no dams were full of water, only 160 dams had a capacity of over 70% of the design capacity; 761 dams had a capacity of 40-70% of the design capacity; In particular, 38 dams were close to the dead water level with only approximately 20% of the design capacity left.

According to Mr. Nguyen Truong Thanh - Head of Nghe An Irrigation Department, the water supply at the dams is entirely from rainwater, there is no other additional source. Therefore, if the hot weather continues, the water level at the dams will decrease further, unable to ensure the long-term water supply for production.

Therefore, Nghe An province is directing localities to study and calculate so that areas at high risk of drought need to switch to drought-resistant crops for the summer-autumn crop. At the same time, dams managed by localities that are damaged and degraded need to allocate budget and irrigation fee sources to repair them, ready to store water when it rains, ensuring production.

According to the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, the heat wave will continue in Nghe An and the North Central provinces until around June 24, 2023.

Source